Play the Legend:This classic saga of mystery, intrigue, and adventure has set the standard for Dungeons & Dragons™ computer role-playing games ever since.

Now, upgraded and enhanced, it comes to your iPad....

Looks like the classic isometric RPG series is getting a new expansion. The news comes from developer Beamdog, the company that ported the two games to modern platforms. The new game will be an expansion of Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition, and is set to release later this year. Check out the expansion’s website for details.

Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition is an epic RPG that deserves as much attention as it can muster. Its current sale price of $4.99 USD (down from $9.99 USD) should help it garner a bit of that deserved admiration.

When Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition went universal, it brought some bugs and other issues with it. The 1.3.1 update fixes a number of problems.

What’s New in Version 1.3.1
Universal App: Buy it once, and play it on your iPad or iPhone.

If a player’s access to DLC becomes limited after installing the new patch, please select one of the two main game modes, then “Store,” and then “Restore Purchase.”

– Saved games can now be exported by long-tapping the Quick Save button during play
– Characters can now be opened in other applications during the Export Character process, including Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition if it is installed
– The battle music now ends correctly after combat ends
– The kit description for the Wizard Slayer now correctly states that all of the Wizard Slayer’s attacks bestow spell failure, not just melee attacks
– The description of the Detect Illusion spell now correctly describes the radius of the effect as 30 feet, and that only enemies of the caster are affected by the spell’s effects
– The game will no longer crash when attempting to join a multiplayer game, with or without a password
– The side panels on the left and right sides of the screen can now be restored on iPhone by tapping the (enlarged) buttons in the bottom left and right corners of the screen
– The descriptions of innate abilities and spells can now be viewed from the gameplay screen by holding and releasing on the spell’s icon
– Double-tapping an item while purchasing equipment now displays a prompt to set a purchase quantity for that item

A couple of months ago the amazing iOS port of the classic PC game Baldur’s Gate, was unceremoniously removed from the App Store. It was a dark day indeed for fans of the game, as it left plans of a port of Baldur’s Gate 2 and the new Baldur’s Gate 3 up in the air.

Whatever contractual hang-ups that resulted in the game getting pulled have apparently been resolved, and Baldur’s Gate is now back on the App Store. And if you head on over to the developer’s forum, you’ll see some vague news about an upcoming, apparently massive, patch for the game and rumblings about about Baldur’s Gate 2.

If you’re a fan of the original and missed the port when it came out initially, then this is good news. If you’re new to Baldur’s Gate and are wondering what the hub-bub is all about, then this is equally good news. I loved the game when it came out oh so many years ago, and continue to love the iOS port, warts and all.

Bad news, retro RPG fans. Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition has been removed from the App Store, and development of the sequel has been put on hold, while the game maker works to “resolve some contractual issues” regarding the two games.

This news comes from Beamdog president Trent Oster in a note on the game’s website. Oster notes that they are “working diligently to remedy the situation,” but he can’t go into detail about the contractual issues, or give a date for when the game will be available again.

That’s too bad, because we considered Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition a Must Have in our review. We’ll keep following this story, and hope to bring you good news on the topic soon.

For gamers of a certain age, Baldur’s Gate was a watershed moment. Before then many had tried and, for the most part, failed to bring Dungeons & Dragons to the videogame world. Then along came Bioware in 1998 and it all just seemed to come together. With an amazingly complex story, a monumental amount of content, and a system that managed to bring D&D rules seamlessly to the gaming world, Baldur’s Gate was a triumph. It’s a testament to the legacy of the game and its characters that the phrase ‘space hamster’ means as much today as they did 14 years ago.

Fast forward to 2012, and we now have Overhaul Games’ revamped port of Baldur’s Gate for the iPad. With higher resolution graphics, over 400 tweaks and bug fixes, the “Tales of the Sword Coast” expansion, additional characters and content, Baldur’s Gate has come roaring to the 21st century for fans of the original and newbies alike to enjoy.

Kick back with a pint of ale.

So was Overhaul Games successful? Did they manage to bring a classic PC game to the much smaller iPad? In a word, yes. The graphics are gorgeous, with spell-effects looking especially lovely (although the characters look pixelated when you zoom in). The world of Baldur’s Gate is lush and beautiful. The new characters are also woven into the existing storyline fairly seamlessly. And the stand-alone campaign, The Black Pits, is a fun diversion that has you fighting in increasingly difficult gladiatorial battles for the entertainment of a twisted and vile creature.

Baldur’s Gate is almost infamous for it’s burdensome menu and inventory screens, but with the Enhanced Edition it’s a bit more streamlined and easier to navigate. The quest logs are cleaner, no longer requiring you to scroll through pages and pages of text. One thing we really love is the ability to zoom in and out of the screen. This is immensely helpful in finding small objects, targeting, or getting a better overall picture of your surroundings. They’ve added lots of little tweaks here and there that make it almost seem like Baldur’s Gate was originally designed for the iPad to begin with. Overhaul also streamlined the character creation process, and it’s a lot of fun going through the massive number of character kits, trying to find the one you’re going to be using for your 80+ hour quest. Overhaul did a phenomenal job of making Baldur’s Gate seem right at home on our little tablets.

The Olympic rings have broken apart.

But the game doesn’t come without it’s faults. While Overhaul Games may have squashed 400 bugs, they managed to create some new ones as well. Probably the one people are going to notice the most is the targeting. Trying to target enemies is haphazard at best. We sometimes found our characters wandering off in the direction of the enemy but not attacking, or occasionally not doing anything at all. When battles get especially hectic, this can be dangerous, as we simply don’t have time to babysit every character to make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing. Also, entering buildings or using stairs can be problematic, and the problem is worse when you’re trying to corral six party members to the right place.

We also experienced some crashes when loading saved games or entering and exiting locations. Sometimes bizarre graphical glitches would occur, like a part of the screen being blacked out, and noticeable slowdown happened while seriously intense spells are going on. None of these are deal-breakers, but we would love to see these things, especially the targeting, addressed in an update.

Overhaul games took upon themselves the unenviable and mammoth task of bringing one of the most cherished and revered games of the past 20 years into modern times. And we should all be glad they did. If you had never told us that Baldur’s Gate was originally a 14 year old PC game, we would never have thought it wasn’t specifically designed for the iPad. The story, characters, quests and gameplay almost seem timeless and are just as engaging and absorbing now as they were back then. Overhaul has done a masterful job of updating the game.

The delay is over, and Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition has just arrived on the App Store. The game is iPad-only, but it contains all the RPG action of the original, plus a new environment, new characters, and even cross-platform multiplayer. You can buy it here for $9.99.

For more details on the re-make of this classic PC game, be sure to read our Q and A with Trent Oster, the creative director of Overhaul Games.

The original Mos Speedrun was one of those nearly perfect games that absolutely nailed exactly what it was going for: creating a super tight platformer that was designed for speedruns. The sequel is coming soon, and this new trailer shows what to expect.